Hidden Gems: Meet El Burrito Redlands of El Burrito – Mexican Food

Today we’d like to introduce you to El Burrito Redlands.

Hi El Burrito, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
El Burrito’s story began in 1957, when R.L. Meister opened the original location on Mt. Vernon in Colton, right in the middle of what was becoming an epicenter of Southern California’s early fast-food scene. Over the years, El Burrito grew into several locations across the Inland Empire, operated by different members of the family. Eventually, we went from several locations down to one and remained at our flagship location in Redlands. Nearly 70 years after it all began, another transition is underway as the next generation prepares to carry the restaurant forward.

Through all of those years, our philosophy has actually been pretty simple: keep it simple. We don’t chase trends or constantly reinvent our menu. We focus on making a smaller number of things really well, using quality ingredients and charging a fair price that allows us to maintain that quality. Just as important are the relationships we’ve built along the way, with our customers, our suppliers, our community and especially our employees. Many of the incredible women who make El Burrito what it is have been here for 10, 20 and even 30 years. Their sisters, daughters and other family members have worked alongside them. Generations at El Burrito go far beyond ownership, and when you walk up to our window, there’s a good chance you’ll see a familiar face.

Maybe that’s part of why El Burrito has become so personal to us and to the community that has supported us all these years. People come to our window and tell us their stories. They grew up eating here. They had a first date here, someone proposed here, or they moved away years ago and El Burrito is still one of their first stops when they come home. We never take that kind of loyalty for granted. In a world that seems to get faster and more complicated every year, we’re happy keeping some things simple. We’ll keep rolling our flour tortillas by hand throughout the day, chopping our fresh produce each morning, making our salsa and creamy guacamole fresh, and serving our famous Garbage Burritos and other favorites people have grown up with. We hope El Burrito will always be one of those places you can count on: the familiar window, the familiar faces and the burrito you’ve been thinking about since the last time you were here. Redlands has given us an incredible home, and our goal is to keep earning our place in this community for generations to come.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Restaurant life has a way of constantly handing you something to solve, whether it’s an ice machine that needs maintenance or an inventory item that’s suddenly out of stock.

Like any business that’s been around for decades, we’ve had plenty of challenges. Some have been significant, and some have been almost comically small. We’ve learned to treat planning as a discipline, so when a challenge comes up, whether it’s supplies, staffing, or equipment, we’ve got a play ready.

COVID was certainly one of the biggest. Like so many small businesses, we were dealing with circumstances none of us had experienced before. We were making decisions in real time, navigating supply chain issues, and trying to figure out how to keep moving forward.

At one point, we couldn’t get our usual black straws and had to use blue ones for about a week. With everything happening at the time, we never imagined customers would care about the color of our straws, but they absolutely did. We started getting emails almost immediately asking, “What happened to the black straws?”

It made us laugh during an otherwise difficult time. It also reminded us how much people notice and care about even the smallest details of El Burrito.

I think over the years we’ve learned not to give challenges more weight than they deserve. You solve the problem in front of you, learn from it, and keep moving forward. That’s part of staying in business for the long haul.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t hard days or difficult seasons. There absolutely are. You just don’t let those moments become the whole story.

This year, as we celebrate 50 years in Redlands, what we’re most proud of is that we’re still here, still moving forward, and still serving this community. We’ve made it through the big things and the little things, and hopefully we’ll be here figuring them out for another 50 years.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a fast casual Mexican food restaurant.

Pricing:

• Burritos range 6 -11
• Tacos range 4-5
• Combination Plates range 11-15

Contact Info:

• Website: Elburritoredlands@yahoo.com
• Instagram: Elburritoredlands
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elburrito.redlands.2025/